One of my all time favorite songs…and a great history lesson for people of all ages.

Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” was the subject of a final exam when I was in school. The test: to explain each historical reference in the song (in one sentence each). Good thing I know my history :)

There have been no reports of illness associated with the recalled in-shell pistachios distributed by Frito-Lay, PepsiCo said today in a statement. The nuts are generally found at check-out counters, spokeswoman Aurora Gonzalez said today in an interview.

Supermarkets pulled pistachios and some pistachio-laden foods from their shelves Tuesday, moves resulting from this week’s Food and Drug Administration warning to consumers not to eat the nuts because they could be tainted with salmonella.

The FDA is scrambling to prevent a repeat of a recent salmonella outbreak from peanuts that has sickened more than 690 people in 46 states. And in Sacramento on Tuesday, a lawmaker introduced legislation to tighten safety standards for foods processed in California.

Earlier this week, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., a San Joaquin Valley nut packer, recalled 2 million pounds of pistachios because of potential salmonella contamination. The company’s nuts tested positive during routine checks at a plant operated by Kraft Foods Inc. and other food manufacturers, according to the FDA.

Like Peanut Corp. of America, the company blamed for the widespread outbreak from peanuts, Setton is a bulk provider of nuts to food manufacturers and wholesalers. That means that the contaminated pistachios could have ended up in a variety of processed foods, including ice cream, cookies, candies and trail mix.

It wasn’t just the Arizona Cardinals who met their match in the Super Bowl — so did Madison Avenue.

And it could be a game-changer. For the first time, it wasn’t an ad agency that created the best-liked Super Bowl commercial. It was two unemployed brothers from Batesville, Ind., whose ad for Doritos — created for an online contest for amateurs — won them $1 million from Doritos maker Frito-Lay, and leaves ad pros with a lot of ‘splaining to do.

What the duo did was beat 51 big-budget advertisers and won USA TODAY’S 21st annual exclusive Super Bowl Ad Meter real-time consumer testing of how much they liked the ads as they aired. (USA TODAY had no connection with Doritos and no connection to the online contest.)

The off-the-wall commercial, “Free Doritos,” features a guy who shatters a vending machine with his crystal ball after predicting free Doritos for everyone in the office.

Just as impressive, the two and backer Doritos displaced Anheuser-Busch and broke its Ad Meter streak. The brewing giant had won 10 in a row.

Although A-B did well, with two ads ranking among Ad Meter’s top five, it couldn’t match Doritos, which also aired a second ad from the contest — and it finished No. 5 out of the 52 ads in the games.

“Two nobodies from nowhere,” just walked off with one of the ad world’s top honors, says 32-year-old Dave Herbert, who made the winning ad with his 33-year-old brother, Joe.

We “beat the king of commercials,” says Herbert.

The two brothers now have fame, fortune and a decent shot at changing the way Super Bowl commercials — and maybe lots of others — are made in the future.

As if the $280 billion U.S. advertising industry doesn’t have enough problems in the struggling economy, now it’s got an even bigger problem: Amateurs are beating it at its own game.

“Regular people have great ideas. They took something simple and made it funny,” says Charles Boast, a 59-year old engineer from Alexandria, Va., an Ad Meter participant.

“Given the type of times we’re in, funny is in,” he says.

Anheuser-Busch executives were good sports, even though A-B was out A-B-ed this Super Bowl by two guys who stole from its playbook of low-brow slapstick ads. (Yes, the crystal ball in the Doritos ad also is heaved at a man’s crotch, albeit accidentally.)

“Tell them to do a recount,” said a jesting Bob Lachky, chief creative officer at Anheuser-Busch, upon learning A-B had been bested. But Lachky conceded that the winning Doritos ad was pretty funny.